


they ask you how you are, and you just have to say that you're fine, when you're not really fine, but you just can't get into it because they would never understand

by flydunes



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang is a Little Shit, Based on a Tumblr Post, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Canon Compliant, Crack Treated Seriously, Episode: s03e13 The Firebending Masters, Episode: s03e21 Sozin's Comet Part 4 Avatar Aang, Gay Zuko (Avatar), Getting Together, Hurt/Comfort, Internalized Homophobia, Love Confessions, M/M, Sokka is Whipped, Zuko (Avatar) is an Idiot, Zuko (Avatar)-centric, Zuko is Whipped, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, bc... gay, except for when its not, idiots to lovers, sokka cosplays as his alter-ego and zuko is an idiot, technically
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25146265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flydunes/pseuds/flydunes
Summary: "i think you might need to talk to someone about all of this," aang says after he's processed the bullshit that's just spewed from zuko's mouth."yeah," zuko agrees, "yeah. i just need an impartial third party to talk about all of these things with.""oh! i know a great therapist!" aang shouts, and a small group of birds resting nearby fly up and out of zuko's range of vision in alarm. "trust me, he's a great guy. a little unconventional, but he's great. really awesome."--zuko needs to see a therapist, but falls for the joke hook, line and sinker.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), minor Sokka/Suki - Relationship, referenced Mai/Zuko
Comments: 42
Kudos: 460





	they ask you how you are, and you just have to say that you're fine, when you're not really fine, but you just can't get into it because they would never understand

**Author's Note:**

> based on [this post](https://gayavatarstyle.tumblr.com/post/621248641474199552/zuko-i-just-need-an-impartial-third-party-to-talk) by [gayavatarstyle](https://gayavatarstyle.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. 
> 
> i may or may not be hardcore procrastinating bc i've hit a block with and they were roommates and an as of yet unreleased 5+1 zukka piece, so uhhh take this shitpost that ended up not being so much a shitpost as a quasi-emotional piece exploring zuko's emotions towards life
> 
> warning for internalised homophobia and cringe (but hey at least i edited!!! let me know if there are any typos)

"so... how goes it?"

aang physically can't turn his head, being stuck in drying tar and whatnot, but his eyes flick to zuko. "it goes, uh, fine," he replies. 

zuko gives some sort of jerk of the head, meant to be a nod, and purses his lips. "cool. yeah. that's good. that it goes... well." agni help him, that was lame. 

"how... are you?" aang asks, and zuko tries to shrug, remembers he's stuck in tar, then chews on the inside of his cheek. 

"i'm fine, i guess. kinda thirsty, if we're being honest," he says, and aang sighs heavily. "sorry. i know i can be kind of a stick in the mud."

"no, no, it's not you, it's just..." aang starts, then falls silent. zuko opens his mouth to say something, anything, and - "we've never hung out. just you and me."

"well, there was that time when i saved you from zhao," zuko reminds him. 

"oh yeah! what happened to him, anyway? i never saw him after the north pole," aang muses, and zuko tries and fails to move his head again. he didn't know what happened? well, he wasn't there, he scarpered as soon as he could, so of course he doesn't know.

"he was taken by a spirit," zuko says, and aang lets out a small "oh!" of surprise. "we were fighting, and then some water spirit came and took him and i told him to take my hand but he didn't, he let himself be captured. i suppose it was more honourable to be taken by spirits than taken by a traitor and fugitive."

"that sucks," is all aang says. it's silent for a few minutes and zuko wishes the sun wasn't so bright above him. fire nation summers aren't exactly known for being mild, and the tar is starting to absorb the afternoon heat. "thanks for saving me back at the fortress, by the way."

"no problem."

zuko's scar is starting to itch by the time the sun starts to descend in the sky. it's really hot and humid, and the tar is officially uncomfortable, and zuko kind of regrets picking up that egg thing. next to him, aang is humming to himself, skipping a few notes here and there, and even though it's annoying zuko doesn't mind it. 

"are you hot?" zuko asks, and aang stops humming. 

"mm, not really. i regulate my body temperature, so i'm kind of comfortable, actually," he replies. 

"oh. same - i can regulate my body temperature too, but only if it's cold. can't really do much about it if it's hot. but now i can't at all. because i've... lost my stuff - i mean my firebending. and it's too hot anyway, so what would be the point even if i could bend," zuko mumbles. he flushes, realising he's being too awkward, but it's not like he and aang are best friends. conversation is not flowing easily. he wishes, not for the first time, that uncle iroh was here. at least he'd talk about tea or say some weird metaphor and zuko could think about something other than the silence between him and aang. his heart gives a pang at the thought of iroh. zuko wonders if he's okay. he probably is. 

then he realises that aang probably just said something and he was not listening at all. "sorry," he blurts out, "did you just say something? i zoned out."

"oh, yeah, i just asked if you want me to cool you down. if it gets too hot, let me know," aang repeats, and zuko wishes he could nod. aang blows some air out and onto zuko and - oh. that's really nice. 

"thanks," he mumbles, and aang goes back to humming.

"so..." aang says,"got anyone you like... back at the fire nation?"

okay. focus. do not bring up the s-word. zuko lets out something he hopes resembles a chuckle. "uh, i have - _had_ \- a girlfriend back home. mai." he doesn't mention the fact that they weren't right for each other, that he didn't feel real love towards her, that he didn't like girls and was only with her to please... someone. anyone. the fire nation. his father. 

"oh. had?" aang's voice is somewhat too chipper for zuko's liking. 

"i dumped her when i left," zuko says bluntly, and aang sucks in a sharp breath through his teeth. 

"yikes. how'd she take it?" he asks. 

"uh, i don't know," zuko says, "it wasn't exactly a face-to-face encounter." he doesn't need to look at aang to know he's got a grimace on his face. he already knows he's the number one asshole. "i had to get out of there fast, before my father or azula figured out what i was doing. i didn't have time to find mai and break up with her and possibly dodge knives on my way out. i just... left a letter, and then left." 

"is that what all break-ups are like? letters and knives?" aang asks, and zuko is reminded of how young the kid is. 

"i don't know. i've only ever broken up with mai the one time. why, are you planning a break-up?"

"no, but, you know. just in case. for the future."

"ah. i see." 

zuko does not see. 

"i really like katara," aang says, unwarranted, and zuko rolls his eyes. he did not sign up for talking about love interests. "i've liked her since i first laid eyes on her."

"oh. uh. cool."

"she's so awesome! like, i've watched her grow this last year, in terms of her bending, and she's improved so much. did you know she's a master?"

"i guess she would have to be some level of talented to be able to teach y-"

"and she's so kind! she cares about all of us!" aang thunders on, apparently not caring about zuko's entire existence. zuko sighs. 

"not me, though."

"no, no, she cares about you, but she won't admit it to herself," aang says offhandedly, and zuko hopes that it's true. "but she's really perceptive and she knows when there's danger and we should really start listening to her more often, but sokka doesn't always let her talk about danger and..."

zuko tunes aang out. no more listening to him. he just had to bring up the s-word. it's not like any silly old mention of sokka will turn zuko into a blushing mess, but he kind of has to prepare to hear about him, or else he very nearly will. the kid has courage and responsibility and he's endearingly idiotic but so incredibly smart and _fuck_ zuko couldn't help but fall slowly, ever so slightly in love with him when he ran at him with a boomerang and war paint even though he was just one non-bender against an entire crew of firebenders plus zuko and the dragon of the west. zuko didn't even realise he liked the boy until he was back with mai and he realised that something was wrong, very very wrong, and this girl did not have a wolf-tail hairstyle and didn't wear blue and -

"i like sokka," zuko nearly yells suddenly, against his own will, and immediately shuts his mouth and turns what he's sure is a violent shade of purple. well, he's gone and done it now. time to die. he will now let his body decompose in this tar and never be found again, that would be great, thanks. 

aang, still in the middle of his monologue about katara, shuts up. is silent for a few seconds. "do you want to... talk about it?" he asks, a little hesitantly, and zuko lets out a small breath he didn't realise he was holding. he's not going to yell at him for liking boys. he wants to talk about it. 

"i... like sokka," zuko repeats, a little stupidly, a little haltingly, and his voice cracks in the middle of his sentence and it's fine, this is _fine_. "i'm an idiot."

"why?" there's a note of genuine concern in aang's voice, like he actually cares about this, about zuko, and wants to help him, and zuko can't speak for a second out of concern that he'll say he's in love with aang too, or something.

"he's an idiot," zuko says, and yeah, way too go. this is fantastic. insult the guy you're crushing on. aang laughs though, so maybe zuko didn't say the wrong thing. "he's... stupid. impulsive. brash. but he's also just... sokka. everything that makes him insufferable and annoying to deal with are just part of the charm, i guess. but he's smart and funny, and he kind of cares about me. he was quick to forgive and understand that i've changed, and he makes jokes out of me and they're not even that embarrassing anymore because he's saying them, and he's dedicated to training with his sword and he's really good at using it, like he's a natural with it, and he's got nice eyes, and, i don't know, everything about him is just perfect even if he makes me want to tear my hair out of my scalp." zuko is aware of the fact that this is probably the most he has ever spoken all at once in his life, but he can't really stop now. "i didn't even realise i liked him until a few weeks ago, and i realised that i've liked him for a long time, like since i first saw him, and i hate it because the fire nation hates same-sex relationships so i've gone all this time feeling like i'm some sort of- of _degenerate_ because i keep thinking, 'what would my father say' and he'd probably just exile me all over again."

"i think you might need to talk to someone about all of this," aang says after he's processed the bullshit that's just spewed from zuko's mouth.

"yeah," zuko agrees, "yeah. i just need an impartial third party to talk about all of these things with."

"oh! i know a great therapist!" aang shouts, and a small group of birds resting nearby fly up and out of zuko's range of vision in alarm. "trust me, he's a great guy. a little unconventional, but he's great. really awesome."

zuko hears something he doesn't quite like in aang's voice, but he's the idiot with a gay panic so he doesn't say anything. 

\--

aang promises that he'll get in contact with his therapist, and that the guy travels around and he'd be more than happy to help zuko, and zuko doesn't question how aang is in contact with anyone, nor how a therapist is willing to help a troupe of fugitives, nor how aang even _knows_ a therapist in the first place. 

zuko sits and waits in a chamber in the western air temple with a giant statue of one of the previous airbending avatars. all aang told him to do was wait and the therapist would be there, and then zuko could let all of it out. 

zuko thought it was too easy, there was something going on, but he needed this, it was okay, the therapist would help. 

he sits and stews in doubt and anxiousness and _wow_ does he desperately need to speak to this therapist for maybe an hour before the guy shows up. 

"sorry i'm late," the man drawls, smoothing his beard. it's like uncle iroh's beard, zuko realises, except brown. in fact, this guy looks a fair bit like he could be a younger, skinnier iroh. he looks to be maybe in his thirties but with that beard covering most of his face, zuko really can't tell, and he's got the same haircut as sokka - zuko's heart gives an almighty jolt - and yikes, those eyebrows. they're... large. 

and he's holding a koala-sheep. there aren't any around this area, being an island and all, but zuko supposes since he's a travelling therapist, he might have a companion. 

"the name's wang fire," the therapist says, and he thrusts the koala-sheep at zuko. "my method is simple. you tell me what's wrong, i give you my sound and trusted advice, and you scream into the koala-sheep. like i said. simple."

zuko takes the koala-sheep and it bleats at him. he pats it on the head. 

wang sits cross-legged at the foot - literally - of the avatar statue, and looks at zuko, his eyes narrowing. they're a startling shade of blue, and zuko really isn't sure where this guy is from. he's wearing fire nation clothes, simple farmer clothes, perhaps for comfort? his beard and topknot are reminiscent of the fire nation, but his dark skin and blue eyes say water tribe, and his crossed legs and wiry frame are very earth kingdom. 

this guy is an enigma, zuko thinks. 

"so," wang says, leaning forward, "young aang says you're having troubles with love, yes?"

zuko opens his mouth to speaks but wang holds up a hand and continues, "aang's a real peach, isn't he? helped him out with his issues a few weeks back. great guy. but yes - love. you know, i had similar issues! my wife, sapphire-"

"sapphire?" zuko cuts in, "as in, sapphire fire?"

"is there a problem?" wang asks, and zuko shakes his head meekly.

"no, sorry, just... it's a very unusual name."

"i'll be sure to let her know," wang says, waving a hand dismissively. "anyway. my wife, sapphire, didn't fancy me a whole lot in our youth. had to try to win her over for years. our parents were neighbours, so we'd known each other since we were children, you see, and she only ever saw me as her friend. but, eventually i got to her, and we had our kid, kuzon, and our second is on the way. any day now! so, you can trust me with any love advice. i've tried it all, kid."

"i see."

wang nods, seemingly in his own thoughts, before he snaps out of it and claps his hands. 

"so! talk to me. what are your woes, good sir?"

zuko sighs and pats the koala-sheep some more. it bleats again. "i like... a guy."

"uh-huh. perfectly normal. nothing wrong with that. go on," wang gestures at him to continue.

"i'm just very confused. i think. i know i like him and i know why i like him but i just don't know...how."

wang nods. he nods some more. he strokes his beard and thinks and nods even more. 

"tell me about him," he says finally, and zuko takes a deep breath and repeats essentially everything he told aang. sokka's an idiot, he's an idiot, sokka is cute and funny and he hates that he likes him because it's weird to think about liking a guy when he's been suppressing his sexuality for so long. when he finishes, wang nods yet again. 

"can you summarise that for me?"

that's an odd request, but zuko thinks about how best to shorten his entire spiel. "so basically, i think sokka is the funniest guy i've ever met and i like looking at his face and every time he leaves i feel sad," zuko says. 

wang just gestures at the koala-sheep. "scream into his fur," he says, and zuko looks at him, looks at the koala-sheep, and raises its body to his face. he yells into the plush koala-sheepskin, but wang stops him almost immediately.

"no, no no! more! scream like you mean it!"

zuko does just that and finds that he feels a little better. wang just looks at him expectantly.

"so, uh..." zuko's a little more than confused. "what's your, uh, advice?"

"hmm, yes. my advice," wang says, "well. based on my observations and your reactions, i have deliberated. this... sokka. he sounds charming. confident. handsome."

"he is," zuko mumbles, shoving his face back into the koala-sheep. he wants to scream again. 

"i see. have you tried kissing him on the lips?" 

zuko's head shoots up to glare at wang. "you want me to what?!"

"i said what i said. kiss him on the lips. big old smooch. trust me, i'm a therapist." with that, wang stands and brushes himself off. "i must be leaving now. thank you for speaking openly to me, zuko."

zuko passes wang his koala-sheep, and doesn't wonder how wang fire knew his name. aang probably passed it onto him. yeah. that has to be it. 

\--

he decides that speaking to wang fire didn't do jack shit a few days later when he and sokka go off on a borderline suicide mission to the boiling rock. 

they're in the war balloon and he can't look at sokka. and sokka... isn't looking at zuko. he's staring off into the clouds, his chin in a hand. they have small talk on the way there, and during the mission they're a bit too busy trying not to get caught for zuko to think about kissing him flat out on the mouth, and sokka's just so cuddly with suki on the way back that he doesn't intrude, doesn't talk to him, can't look at him.

he doesn't think about sokka's bright blue eyes boring into zuko's own when describing the plan to escape, doesn't think about sokka's body wrapped around his own to pretend they're scuffling in his cell, doesn't think about the fact that chit sang thought they were _together_. 

\--

zuko finds sokka in the therapy room where he talked to wang fire a few days after their excursion. he's hunched over, curled into himself, his back facing the entrance to the room. zuko wasn't looking for him - he _wasn't_ , he was looking for a respite from katara's snarky comments and heavy, burning gaze - and he's surprised to see that sokka looks...

small. 

he's also surprised to hear small little sniffles coming from him, surprised to see his shoulders shaking. he's crying. silently, in a room by himself, with the smallest of sobs, but still. zuko doesn't think he's ever seen sokka so much as frown. 

"sokka?" he whispers, startling the other boy. sokka's head whips around, his eyes widening. he hastily smiles, a weak, watery thing, and wipes a hand across his face. 

"hey, zuko," he says, and his voice is trembling. he clears his throat. "does katara want me back?" he goes to stand up, but zuko holds up a hand to stop him. 

"i was trying to get away from your sister. just, wandering around, i suppose." zuko can't really figure out a way to bring the whole sokka-is-crying situation up without sounding like an insensitive prick. he just says, "you okay?" 

"hmm? yeah. i am. i think," sokka says, but his face crumples up and big splotches of red appear on his cheeks and his eyes well up again. "shit, no, sorry, i don't think i am. i'm sorry." he lets out a sob and puts his head in his hands. 

"don't apologise," zuko says, trying to be comforting, and he goes and sits next to sokka. "you're allowed to not be okay." iroh had said something similar to him after he'd run away from that ba sing se girl - was it jin? - and he'd had a bit of a moment in the back of the tea shop, thinking he'd never be able to talk to people at all and - 

"suki broke up with me," sokka says, and gives a sad little chuckle. zuko looks at him, and puts a hand on his shoulder. "said she just... wasn't into me." 

"i'm sorry," zuko says, and ignores the blooming hope in his chest. 

"it's okay, you don't have to be. i just - i thought we'd last a while. well, i mean, it's been almost a year, but we've only seen each other a few times. i was so excited when we saw her at the boiling rock. did you know i almost completely compromised the invasion on the day of the eclipse? if azula hadn't taunted me by saying she had messed suki up, we could have gotten out earlier." 

"if you had escaped from the city earlier then you wouldn't have had to go to the boiling rock and you wouldn't have rescued suki," zuko suggests. sokka shrugs. 

"if we hadn't gone to boiling rock she wouldn't have broken up with me." sokka chokes back a sob. 

"are you and suki still...?" 

"friends? she wants to be. we worked well together. and she's a great person. i think i just need a few days. to try to get over her." 

they're silent for a few minutes, sokka trying to hold in his tears and zuko staring up into the face of the airbending avatar statue. sokka eventually calms down, and zuko gets an idea. 

"you know," zuko says slowly, "maybe you need a... neutral third party to talk to. a therapist. aang recommended this one guy to me. a little kooky, very unconventional." 

sokka chuckles. "a therapist, huh? what's his name?" 

"wang fire," zuko says, and looks at sokka as the other boy collapses into a pile of giggles. "what?" 

"nothing, it's just - i've talked to him before. he is a little unconventional. but also very kickass at his job." 

"really? he told me to scream into a koala-sheep and then told me to-" zuko stops. that was close. he's not telling sokka that wang fire told him to kiss sokka on the lips. and he's also not doing that either. he is not going to kiss sokka on the lips. 

"to what?" 

"nothing. he told me to do something very weird to figure out my problems." 

"well," sokka says, "i think screaming into a koala-sheep is great to clear the mind. a very thorough technique." zuko looks at him, and he's smirking. his eyes are still a little red and the tip of his nose is flushed but he's _smirking_ and he knows something that zuko doesn't. 

"why are you smirking, sokka?" he asks, and sokka grins. 

"no reason. i think i might pay wang fire a visit." 

"but he's a travelling therapist, how can you contact him, let alone pay him a visit?" 

"i have my ways, zuko. i have my ways." 

\-- 

the night before they're scheduled to defeat ozai, they have a campfire. except aang, with him being missing and all. just zuko, toph, katara, suki and sokka. they each have their own tents around the white lotus camp, but toph had proclaimed that she wanted to sleep outside with everyone like "the good old times" and they had all agreed so they gathered their sleeping bags around a campfire and began to settle in for the night. 

zuko is keeping the fire going while everyone else tells stories and jokes and tries to distract themselves from the upcoming battle. he's silent, listening in for the most part. he's nervous - he has every right to be - and he doesn't trust himself to talk lest he becomes sick or starts crying or heck, maybe both. he stares into the fire while suki tells a story of one of her trainee warriors winning a fishing competition the kyoshi village held by catching a record hippo-fish. since the dragons, his fire's had a lot more colour in it. there are not just reds, but greens and golds and blues, and a little bit of purple. it's magnificent - he doesn't quite feel like he deserves it, but if the dragons thought he was worthy then maybe, just maybe, he was. 

he snaps out of his daze as the group around him laughs. katara starts up her own story of almost being eaten by a polar bear-dog as a kid when sokka leans into his side. 

"you okay?" he asks, mirroring zuko's words mere weeks ago, and zuko shrugs. 

"nervous," he says. his voice sounds weird, off, like it's not his own. his voice has changed in the last year, become deeper and a little huskier. he'd never noticed until now. he wonders if sokka has. 

"so am i," sokka confesses. "i'm so terrified i think i might shit myself the second i so much as look at the firelord." 

zuko snorts. "for my first act as firelord," zuko starts, "i'll give you a pair of clean pants." 

sokka laughs and jostles his shoulder. he sobers up quickly, though. "we're gonna win," he says, and zuko nods. 

"we'll win. i promise." 

he doesn't want to think about what would happen if they don't. they _all_ need to win, every single one of them, for the world to truly be saved. sokka has to do his badass warrior thing and stop his father and the fire nation fleet and he needs to defeat azula and secure the fire nation capital. they cannot afford to lose. 

"i'll swap with katara if you want. i'll help you take down azula," sokka says, and zuko shakes his head. 

"no, you're-" _you're too special. if azula knocks me down she will kill you, and i don't want that to be on my cold, dead conscience._ "she plays dirty. i need another bender with me in case she gets out of control. i trust you, and i know you're just as capable, but she's too strong. i need another bender with me. and toph and suki need you to lead them. you're the plan guy. without aang, we kind of don't have a plan." 

"i get you. i just wanna make sure you'll be okay," sokka says, and zuko's heart gives an almighty thud. he flushes and hopes his ears aren't too red. 

"i will be. i'm a big boy," he says, lightly elbowing sokka in the ribs. sokka pretends to be hurt, until toph punches him in the arm because he leans too far into her side. 

"go flirt somewhere else!" she yells, and zuko flushes again. sokka lets out a chuckle. 

"you know what, toph? fine! zuko, let's go sit somewhere more awesome and manly." he stands up and extends a hand for zuko to take. if he holds onto sokka's hand for a little longer than necessary when he's standing, sokka doesn't mention it. 

sokka takes them to a quiet corner of camp, away from the white lotus members' fires and tents and meeting areas. it's right next to one of their borders, the outermost wall of ba sing se towering above them. sokka gestures at a small pile of sticks and raises his eyebrows at zuko so zuko shoots some fire at it. they both sit, staring into the fire. a small purple spark expels from the flame and lands on the ground. 

"hey, zuko?" sokka asks, and zuko's chest tightens. 

"yeah?" 

"can i tell you something?" 

zuko feels a flood of warmth flow through his entire body. "yeah." 

"you know wang fire?" 

oh. this wasn't what he thought sokka was going to say. what he hoped sokka would say. zuko glances at sokka. "what about him?" 

"oh, man, you're gonna be so pissed at me. okay. so. i... may or may not be wang fire." 

zuko stares. he keeps staring. he's completely silent as his brain tries (and fails) to process this. he talked to wang fire about his problems. his problems with liking sokka. 

"you- what- i-" oh, agni. 

"i'm sorry, i should have told you sooner, aang thought it would be really funny and so did i, but i guess i've broken your trust now, huh." sokka mumbles, and zuko still can't string together two words to speak. 

"how?" he stammers out, and sokka scratches his neck. 

"when we smuggled ourselves into the fire nation, aang went to fire nation school and ended up having a kid pick on him. aang got the blame for the fight they got into, and so he had to have his parents visit the school. katara and i pretended to be his parents. i wore the whole wang fire shebang and we weren't suspected, i don't think. then aang was having issues a few days before the eclipse. the kid was terrified of facing ozai, he kept having nightmares, so i dressed up as wang fire again and pretended to be his therapist and made him scream into the koala-sheep and we had a right old laugh about it later. he thought it would be hilarious if i did it again and helped you out. he didn't tell me what you'd be going on about, though, so i really had to try to stay in character." 

"i completely fell for it," zuko mutters, head in his hands. "i'm an idiot." 

"or i'm just a really good actor," sokka counters, and zuko groans. 

"please kill me." 

then it hits him. 

"wang - _you_ \- said i should kiss you on the lips!" zuko cries. 

"yeah... i did." 

"but you were with-" 

"suki? i know. i didn't tell you the whole reason why we broke up. she noticed me looking at you a whole lot and figured some stuff out and told me it wasn't fair on her if i was pining after someone else. plus she had also kind of fallen out of love with me and all that but still. i wasn't honest with you. about anything. i'm really sorry," sokka says, and zuko looks back up at him. sokka is flushed a deep red, and his hands are shaking. 

"you were pining? after me?" 

"you were pining after me too so you can hardly tease me, okay?" 

zuko laughs, and smiles. "so you..." 

"yeah." 

"and we... we could...?" zuko looks up at sokka. he's scratching his undercut - it's getting a little too long, it needs a trim - and his eyes are almost glowing in the reflecting firelight. the blue in his eyes is almost mesmerising - zuko can't look away. 

"if you want to. i mean, i really care about you. i don't wanna rush this or anything but we could die tomorrow so i guess we could-" 

sokka is cut off by zuko throwing himself at him, kissing him frantically. sokka crashes to the ground and zuko lands on top of him and he scrapes his elbows but he hardly cares, just cares about sokka's lips on his and - 

"mmph," sokka groans into the kiss, his arms coming up to hold zuko's waist, hold him tighter, tighter, _tighter_ against his body. 

zuko is the first to break away, staring down at sokka's face. he's now positively scarlet, but he's got a dopey smile on his face, and zuko is sure he looks exactly the same. 

"maybe the world should end more often if it means you can kiss me like that more," sokka says, and zuko shuts him up with another kiss. 

\-- 

azula's in a hospital and ozai's in prison and zuko can finally walk without a cane when he's coronated (thanks katara). iroh's behind him, and aang's by his side, and there's warriors from all walks of life there too, and right at the front of the court, kneeling as the crown is placed in his topknot, is sokka. sokka's looking up at him, a gross breach of protocol, he's meant to be looking at the ground, but zuko can't tell him off, not when sokka gives a wink and blows a kiss at him. zuko flushes, with pride and with happiness and with hope. 

\-- 

sokka later corners him, after their small group meeting but before the banquet, in the courtyard where zuko sits at the edge of the pond watching the turtle-ducks. 

"so, how goes it, sir firelord zuko, his flameoness, his hotness, his majesty?" sokka says, leaning against an archway. zuko grins at him. 

"it goes well, warrior sokka of the water tribe. how goes it for you?" 

"it goes perfectly well. except i seem to be missing my boyfriend. you see, he's a very important man, and whenever i try to get some alone time with him on this most auspicious of days he gets whisked off by several officials when all i want to do is give him a big old smooch and tell him i'm very, very proud of him," sokka says, stroking an imaginary beard. "if it pleases you, your highness, would you mind passing on a message for me?" 

"i'll see what i can do for you, but i am not a messenger hawk so please do forgive me if the message fails to be delivered," zuko replies, just as greasily, just as obnoxiously, and stands up. he walks to sokka, and wraps his arms around his waist 

"for what it's worth," he whispers against sokka's lips, "i'm very, very proud of you too." 

sokka grins into the kiss, and then breaks out in giggles and then it's just the two of them standing in a courtyard with turtle-ducks quacking at them, laughing into each other's faces. 

**Author's Note:**

> scream zukka at me on [tumblr](https://flydunes.tumblr.com/) but please note that I'm awkward as fuck and don't know how to talk to people or take compliments k bye thanks for reading
> 
> also check out this amazing fanart of [zuko holding a koalasheep](https://www.instagram.com/p/CC52JLlB4pv/?igshid=1tz1rx7kzhdew/) by ineffable_merlance ([spxcymilk](https://www.instagram.com/spxcymilk/) on insta)!! thank you so much!!


End file.
